On Being “Social”

One aspect of running a business is, and always has been, marketing. Once upon a time, not that long ago, if you had a business and you didn’t have a listing in the Yellow Pages, it was like you didn’t exist. And if you really wanted visibility, you took out a display ad.

Remember the Yellow Pages?

Today, digital visibility via websites and social media profiles is everything. As I’ve grown my business, so have I grown my blog (in part through writing for this column), and my profiles on various platforms.

A social media profile requires care and feeding. For me, as an aesthetic person who values authenticity, thoughtful curation, and soulful connection, deciding what to post and what to say about these images is a deeply personal process.

As you might imagine, there’s also the question of what will be featured in the images. My firm completes several projects a year, but not all of these are photographed.

The good news is, there’s a kind of gentlewoman’s tradition on social media of re-gramming. Especially in the design community. Not only do we post our own work, we also re-post and tag, and comment on the work of others that we admire, the designs that inspire us.

In that vein, in today’s blog, here is a taste of this work that I do “on Social.” These images are a collection of spiral staircases, a rabbit hole of inspiration that I spiraled down one day, scooping up and bringing back these images and thoughts to share with my community. (If you would like to see more like this, please do follow me on Instagram: @lmbinteriors)

Are you seeing the balance of the masculine and feminine in this post like I am? Those curves are absolutely bodacious and so grounded. I know how she feels! Read on for thoughts on more spiral staircases that are inspiring that perfect balance between the two energies.

Many of our clients — dare I say especially men of a certain age (born in the 60’s enamored with Beyond Thunderdome) are rather attached to the industrial look, which is not usually my jam, but of course, as a designer if the need is definite, I adapt. Which is why I am surprised that I am actually drawn to the way this corten steel staircase presents. I haven’t seen corten steel used so elegantly before. This staircase feels like a gracious access point upward to a room of one’s own.

We are currently working on a project that needs an architecturally significant staircase. That is part of what led us down this glorious curved-staircase rabbit hole.

I can’t entirely jive with this entryway because where would you hang the art!? That said, there is something about getting a hard surface to bend like this, the feat of engineering that is required, that is compelling. It looks so gracious and smooth and strong. I want to touch it.

…conch shell, armadillo, tongue, yin-yang symbol, cat’s eye… What do you see?

Are you a social media fan? I’d love to “see” you there: on Instagram: @LMBInteriors or on Facebook: facebook.com/LMBInteriors

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A version of this article appeared in the Piedmont Post